springing up.

Now this fact emphasizes the difference we have already noted between
the sculpture of Michelangelo and that of the Greeks. The leading idea
in Greek sculpture was that of repose, while, as we have seen in the
David and the Cupid, Michelangelo chose for his figures a moment of
action. To give this suggestion of motion to a seated figure is even
more remarkable than in the case of one standing, for the sitting
posture naturally has an effect of stability.

The reclining figures on the sarcophagus of the Duke Giuliano
represent Night and Day, and are supposed to be symbolic of death and
resurrection. Night is a woman lying with head sunk upon the breast in
a deep sleep. She is crowned with a crescent moon and star, and an owl
is placed at her feet. The mask beneath her pillow symbolizes the body
from which the spirit has departed. Though the figure is not beautiful
in the Greek sense, it is grand and queenly. Opposite is Day, an
unfinished captive, his head half freed from the stone, the arms
rigid, the body contorted.

These two figures, together with Dawn and Twilight on Lorenzo's tomb,
have an allegorical meaning which must be read in the light of
Michelangelo's own life history. "Life is a dream between two
slumbers; sleep is death's twin-brother; night is the shadow of death;
death is the gate of life--such is the mysterious mythology wrought by
the sculptor."[31]

[Footnote 31: Symonds, in _Renaissance in Italy: the Fine Arts_.]

The work on the Medicean tombs covered a period of about twelve years.